Sam Allardyce sets out new goals for West Ham

SAM ALLARDYCE reckons he’ll soon be in the England frame again once he guides West Ham back into the big time.

Published 23rd June 2011

Sam Allardyce was one of a number of bosses interviewed for the England post in 2006

My ultimate goal is to be in the top half of the Premier League searching for European places or cup finals

Sam Allardyce

Sam Allardyce was one of a number of bosses interviewed for the England post in 2006 when Sven Goran Eriksson stepped down.

In the end Steve McClaren got the nod – and now all three bosses will be battling away in the Championship next season, with Eriksson at Leicester and McClaren as Nottingham Forest’s new boss.

Allardyce was given the boot by Blackburn last season and was also fired by Newcastle, but he insists succeeding Fabio Capello was no deluded pipe dream.

He said: “If I get West Ham up this year and then get them into the top half of the table in the first season then people will be saying, ‘Sam might have a chance’.

“That’s how it works in football. If you are flavour of the month, you’ve got a chance. If you are not flavour of the month, you’ve got no chance.”

It’s a long time since the Hammers were a force to be reckoned with. They were a disaster under Avram Grant last term, going down without a whimper.

They only just avoided the drop the season before when Gianfranco Zola was in charge.

But Allardyce insists his record at Bolton was second to none, saying: “I provide the benchmark for success.

“Survival was only two years of my seven. The last four we finished eighth, sixth, seventh and fifth so you shouldn’t really tag me as a survival manager.

“I’m a productive manager who breeds success wherever he goes.

“My ultimate goal is to be in the top half of the Premier League searching for European places or cup finals as I did with Bolton, although that’s a long time off.

“The aim at West Ham is to get out of this division as quickly as possible. And if I don’t do that then I don’t expect to be here.”

He is already resigned to losing England trio Scott Parker, Robert Green and Carlton Cole from a pool of players that is already down to the bare bones.

Matthew Upson, Thomas Hitzlsperger, Danny Gabbidon, Manuel Da Costa and Victor Obinna have walked already and there won’t be much cash available for replacements.

But at least Kevin Nolan has arrived from Newcastle to take over the captain’s armband from Upson.

Allardyce added: “Kevin guided Newcastle back to the Premier League at the first time of asking and not only scored 17 goals but was captain of the team.

“I see Kevin not only as a great player on the field but a great captain off it.”

Allardyce brings a reputation for long-ball hoofing with him to a club that prides itself on playing a passing game. But he insisted: “When did West Ham play the West Ham way? Getting relegated can’t be the West Ham way.

“The club has been up and down like a yo-yo so I don’t think the fans see that as the West Ham way.

“The West Ham way is about winning football matches and the joy of winning.

“I’m in the game to win games of football and entertain the public – and that’s what I do.

“Wherever I have been I have entertained the public irrespective of the long ball perception.”

Allardyce made it clear he had no problem working for owners David Sullivan and David Gold and vice-chairman Karren Brady.

He said: “I can work with them if they work with me. I’m not saying that’s a friendship, it’s a hard driven partnership and heated discussions will happen.”